Some residents near Hardin Playground in the Seventh Ward said they have had enough and will move out of Orleans Parish after a car chase and three shootouts with police interrupted their quiet Sunday afternoon.

A Louisiana State Police trooper was hurt in the exchange and a suspect was killed. A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said she looked into the suspect's eyes before he was shot and killed by police.

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She said he was calm but bleeding on her stoop, asking for help and trying to get inside her home through the front and back doors. She said she had a feeling that she needed to protect herself and her granddaughter and locked the door seconds before she heard the final rounds of gunshots. She is considering moving out of the neighborhood where she was raised.

Another man on the street said the suspect was carrying a gun, a detail later confirmed by police. He said the shootings will force him to move.

The final shootout was reported just after 4 p.m. Sunday across the street from the playground, which neighbors said was filled with children at the time.

At a news conference on Monday, New Orleans Police Chief Michael Harrison called the shooting “a cowardly act” and said the suspects had no regard for their lives, the officers’ lives or the lives of the children who could have been shot.

Two additional people are still on the run.

New Orleans police are leading a joint investigation with Louisiana State Police because officers from both agencies were involved. This is the first officer-involved shooting in the NOPD this year.

Harrison said the incident started as a car chase. He said the suspects were being pursued in a Toyota Camry that was stolen Aug. 4 from the 1500 block of Crete Street. When a state trooper tried to pull over the car, the suspects didn’t stop, Harrison said. The car chase ended when the Camry crashed at the intersection of Allen and Duels streets.

“At that point, three unknown males exited the vehicle and ran off in different directions in the area,” Harrison said. “According to the trooper, two of the suspects fired shots at the trooper’s marked SUV. The trooper did not return fire. He immediately called in the incident, and nearby LSP and NOPD units quickly responded to the scene.”

One of the responding troopers found one of the suspects near Hope Street and chased him into an alley, where more shots were fired. Harrison said that trooper was shot in the elbow by the suspect and returned fire.

Residents said the second shootout came about 10 minutes after the crash and first the shootout. Seconds later, they heard another exchange of gunfire from the corner of Law and New Orleans streets, across from the playground.

Harrison said two New Orleans police officers and at least one state police trooper exchanged gunfire with the same suspect who shot the trooper near Hope Street.

“Law enforcement officers returned fire, striking the suspect,” Harrison said. “Officers located a black semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine in the suspect’s possession. Detectives later learned the weapon was reported stolen out of St. Tammany Parish. EMS transported the suspect to the hospital, where he later died.”

A neighbor, who wanted to be identified only as Arnold, described the chaotic scene near his home.

“I just saw them putting the state trooper in the ambulance, and then I saw they were pumping the guy's chest right there in the middle of the street, right there on the corner of New Orleans and Law,” Arnold said. “It just seemed to me like he was already dead.”

Harrison did not release that suspect’s identity. He said the suspect’s mother will confirm his identity at the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office.

A spokesperson for the New Orleans Police Department said officers' body-worn cameras and in-car cameras show the final shootout, as well as video from a state police trooper’s dash camera. He said the department will decide whether to release any of the video to the public by Aug. 30.

Ballistics testing will be used to determine if a state trooper or NOPD officer fired the fatal shot or if the suspect took his own life. The coroner will conduct an autopsy on Tuesday to determine the cause of death.

Both NOPD officers who fired their weapons have been placed on administrative reassignment pending the outcome of the investigation.

Investigators are calling on the public to help locate the two remaining people. Descriptions of the men have not been released. Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

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